This disclosure relates to laterally rotating patient support apparatuses, and more particularly, but not exclusively to laterally rotating patient support apparatuses with a pivot mechanism that laterally rotates a support pivotably coupled with a lower frame at a pivot and an upper frame coupled with the support about a rotational axis defined by the pivot.
It is often necessary for caregivers to transfer patients from one support apparatus to another. In order to transfer the patients, caregivers may be required to physically pull or lift a portion of the patient or a material under the patient. Often times only a single caregiver transfers the patient, which requires the caregiver to exert the total amount of force needed to transfer the patient and increases the risk of injury. Over time the strain of transferring patients manually can lead to caregivers suffering back injuries. One solution has been to laterally rotate the upper frame of a patient support apparatus so that the patient slides down the inclined surface to a second support apparatus. While various laterally rotating apparatuses have been developed, in certain applications there is still room for improvement. Thus, a need persists for further contributions in this area of technology.